My Demons
by VinnyRoxyFrankie
Summary: Our favourite 'dark' member of the flock's point of view of The Angel Experiment. Some onesided MaxXFang, if you take it that way. R&R, please. BACK FROM THE DEAD.
1. Not Afraid

**_AN: For some reason, I can't put rulers into my documents anymore, which is a pain in the neck, but I'm just going to have to work around that. As you might have guessed from the description, this is The Angel Experiment and possibly School's Out Forever from Fang's POV. I know, I know, the chapters are very short - the upside of this being that I can update more often, and there's more chance of me actually finishing this story, because I am more likely to get stuck when writing long chapters. So you'll probably get updates every two days or so. The chapters will probably end up getting longer eventually, because I'm just that sort of person, you know. _**

**_DISCLAIMER - I own nothing. Nothing at all._**

**_Anyway, please enjoy - and then review! _**

**MY DEMONS  
Chapter One – Not Afraid**

_**Grit your teeth, learn to fall – I won't always be there to pick you up. **_

_I am not afraid. Of course I'm fine. Totally, totally fine. Just a nightmare, I'm sure… _

I had just startled awake. I was sweating, too, out of fear. I couldn't quite ignore the feeling of fright and of shock, even though I had no idea what had woken me up. I listened intensely for a couple of moments, waiting like stone. Iggy and the Gasman were sleeping soundly in the room that we shared – but then again, they probably wouldn't wake up if a bomb exploded outside the door.

It was still dark outside, definitely. The blackness was comforting to me, as it always was. No sound I didn't recognize reached my ears. It was only the sounds of gentle breathing and the slightest twitches of my roommates that I could hear, and I heard those every night.

Of course, going back to sleep was no longer an option. My skin felt almost as if it was on fire. I couldn't quite get enough air into my lungs, and it all felt too dry. I was tense all over, ready to spring at nothing. The sensation was startlingly familiar, but I couldn't quite place it – maybe I had dreamed about something like that.

Rather than wait in stillness until dawn broke, I slid out of my bed, into jeans and my tatty old boots and out of the door, barely breaking the silence of the corridor. I knew from experience that going out of the hall window was the best – I opened that one often enough that it didn't creak at all, so I wouldn't wake up anyone. Firstly I had to creep past Max's ajar door, knowing that I never had and probably never would wake her up-

"Fang."

_Speak of the devil. Perhaps I should have touched wood._

_"Fang!"_

Her voice was barely a whisper, but it was an anxious shout in the same instant. For a long moment, I expected her to come crashing into the hall and wake up everyone else. But nothing happened. I heard stirring from her bedcovers, but they sounded sleepy and slow.

"Jerk," she murmured. My eyebrows rose in silent amusement.

I stepped towards the opening in the door and put my eyes against the crack. Max was still lying in her bed, facing the window set in one wall. She moaned a little, and I saw her wings twitch, as though she was flying in her dreams. As I watched, she rolled onto her back and abruptly sat up. Something about her movements told me she was still asleep, but I froze and held my breath all the same. The moon, full and fat in the sky, was shining directly onto her face. She didn't seem to like it; one hand pawed at her eyes. Then she stopped, and her wings twitched yet again.

"I'm not going to die today," she said aloud, her voice not loud, but definitely clear. Her eyes were open, and they slowly rotated around the room until they fixed on me and the door. They were flat, and she wasn't seeing me, or even conscious. I moved inside, careful not to trip on the various inanimate objects spread over the floor, and pulled the curtains closed. Max seemed to settle immediately, the silver of the moon no longer in her eyes. She lay back and closed her eyes, sounding satisfied.

Her hair was a knotted mess, trailing across her pillow, indicating a restless night. But at least she was still and silent now, her breathing deep and regular. I smiled to myself at her peace, something with she hardly ever exhibited when she was awake.

And then, slowly and silently, I crept back outside and disappeared out of the hall window, leaving it open the slightest crack so I could easily get back in again. I dropped a few feet into nothing, adrenaline filling me up on the inside. And then, with a snap, I unfurled my wings and took off as fast and as silently as I could into nowhere.

**_AN: Yes, it is short. But I've already got the next chapter written up, and I'll probably put it up tomorrow. But first, you need to review!_**

**_-Aden Ameryn_**


	2. Morning

**_AN: See, I told you the updates would come quickly! You should be impressed - it's not very often that I actually get past the first chapter or so. Chapter two is a little longer than the first one - I'm trying to stick to JP's length of chapter, if not a little of his style. Not exactly though, because Fang is different from Max. A big thanks goes to everyone who reviewed, and thanks for all the comments on the fact that I kept Fang pretty in-character, which is very hard. As I'm sure many of you who have started and never finished stories of Fang's POV. Individual notes to previous reviewers are at the bottom for people interested!_**

**MY DEMONS**

**Chapter Two – Morning**

_**You might not remember your dreams, but I do.**_

Coming back to the house was like coming back to reality. When you're flying, nothing feels real. Fears, hopes, dreams, everything – they're all a million miles away, back on the ground. I skittered inside and back into the room for a few minutes of therapeutic deep-breathing before Ig and Gazzy woke up. They all had pretty good internal alarms, and, failing that, we had Max to wake us up when she was thumping around and getting dressed, so both of them pretty much woke up at the same time. With much yawning and stretching, they got dressed and left to join Max in the kitchen. I waited for a couple of moments before stepping out of bed – I was still fully dressed under the covers, of course, including my boots and all.

It took me all of five seconds to make my bed – something which I always did without fail, obeying my inner twitchy neat-freak (something which Max insisted everyone had – now if only they others could find it). After that I walked silently down the hall and into the kitchen. The refrigerator was open, and Max was leaning into it. I came up behind her, knowing that she wouldn't even notice me until I was standing right beside her. She spun around and glared at me.

"Will you _quit_ that?" she snapped at me.

"Quit what? Breathing?" I replied calmly, fighting a smile.

"You know what," she said with an exaggerated roll of the eyes.

"I'll make eggs," Iggy said, managing to pull himself into an upright position.

"Fang? You set the table. I'll go get Nudge and Angel," Max said to me, and I went rummaging through the drawers hunting for usable knives, forks and spoons. Most of them looked as if they had been used and then placed back in, but that could just be the lazy people who washed them. The smell of cooking eggs was a nice proper start to my day, and knowing that, once again, Max and Iggy had appeared to have magically put food on the table, was good. We ate most days, but going hungry wasn't something any of us would want to experience – we had spent enough time in the School being fed glop or nothing at all to take nothing for granted.

A half-dead Nudge and more lively Angel were shepherded into the kitchen to be seated at the table by Max. By that time I had found and arranged several mismatched sets of cutlery – some metal, some plastic with baby pictures on them, some disposable and some unidentifiable under the grime. Max served the eggs and placed them on plates between us. The others tucked in, eating like hyenas. It was nothing out of the ordinary.

"I want to go pick strawberries today," Angel said suddenly as she ate, "they're ripe now."

"Okay, Angel. I'll go with you," Gazzy said, and then let one rip. I practically choked and died on the spot – _forever _is not a long enough time for someone to get used to a stink like that.

"Oh, jeez, Gazzy," Max said, her voice disapproving but her eyes twinkling just a little.

"Gas…mask!" Ig managed to choke out, holding his neck. Sure, he was blind, but there was certainly nothing wrong with his nose.

"I'm _done_," I said, swallowing the last bite off of my plate and moving away from the table. Clean, breathable air was a relief. Rather than actually washing the plate, I chucked it into the sink with the growing pile of others. And I had wondered where the cutlery had gone – most of it was moulding in the bottom of the pile. When it got too desperate and we were eating off the table or out of pots and pans, one of us would wash them out.

"Sorry," the Gasman said, apparently unfazed.

"Yeah, Angel," Nudge pitched in with a glare of Gazzy, "I think the _fresh air _would do us all good. I'll go too."

"We'll all go," Max said decisively. I sighed, realizing that that would mean me, too.

Outside the sky was so clear that we could see for miles. Carrying anything we could find which would be suitable to transport strawberrires, our little group set out for the strawberry path behind Angel. It was like something out of a storybook – the Teddy Bear's Picnic. Not that I had ever owned one. I had heard Jeb talking about it to Nudge and Angel once upon a time. But that had been before he had disappeared.

I did a casual 360, not expecting to see anything out of the ordinary. Angel and Max were holding hands and chatting merrily up front, and I couldn't help but hear what they were talking about.

"If you make cake, I can make strawberry shortcakes," Angel said. I nearly laughed at the thought of Max cooking _anything. _Sure, she looked after all of us, but, man, I had been poisoned enough for one life time already.

"Yeah, that'll be the day, when Max makes a cake. I'll make it, Angel," I heard 'Iggy' say – of course, it was Gazzy in reality.

"Oh, thank you!" Max said, whirling around and berating Iggy, "okay, I'm not a fabulous cook. But I can still kick your butt, and don't you forget it!"

Iggy was laughing loudly, his hands held up. Nudge looked as if she was about to crack up with laughter. I grinned at the expression on Max's face.

"Was that _you?" _she asked Gazzy in disbelief. He would only laugh and shrug in reply.

Angel's shrill scream bought us back to reality in an instant – I glanced to Angel, to Max and then up to the sky – right as the first Eraser fell out of the sky and practically onto my head.

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**_AN: So, what do you think? Please review! Not only is it good for my self-esteem, but it also helps to improve my writing. Which is a _GOOD _thing, trust me! Now, notes for reviewers..._**

**_Lessien-Elensar - Thank you very much. I've updated, so I hope you keep reading!_**

**_Yeahyeah - Thank you as well!_**

**_SamanthaFantasyFan - Well, thank you. About the whole 'jerk' thing, if you read the first or second chapter of The Angel Experiment, you'll find Max's dream about running away from the Erasers. In that dream, she calls one of the Erasers a jerk - I believe the full quote is_ **_'not today, you jerk'. **She also says '**I'm not going to die today'** in the orginal script. Interesting fact!**_

**_Kat - thank you heaps!_**

**_Myrah - I know what you mean about the daunting task - some of the scenes are really intersting, and I really want to write them, but I'm afraid that they won't be in character! And some of the more boring scenes are hard as well - you have to wonder what Fang is thinking furing those scenes where he's not saying anything - which is quite a lot! Deciphering those mysterious looks is a little difficult as well! I hope you keep following, and I'm glad you like the title. By the way, I hope you update A Little Place Called Home soon, because I really love that story (I'm just too lazy to review all the time, but maybe I should!). _**

**_Illa Scriptor - I'm soooo glad he isn't really, really OC. I actually haven't read too many Fang POV stories, but I haven't been looking very hard. I hope he stays in character as well! Thank you!_**

**_Crash923 - Thank you as well!_**

**_I hate to repeat myself, but I hope everyone who reads it reviews!_**

**_- Aden Ameryn_**


	3. Blind Instinct

**_AN: Er, sorry that this chapter has taken so long to materialise. I hope you don't all hate me now and refuse to review. I have been away on school camp for the past week, so I do have an excuse. For once. This chapter (not to mention the next two) were already written before I left, but I was too chicken/lazy to edit and post before I left. I don't really like this chapter, and I don't really like how it was written in the actual MaxRide book to start with (so sue me) but that's just my opinion. Then again, I've only really written about swords and less advanced weaponry (knives, pikes, spears, etc. I read a lot of Redwall...), so street-fighting isn't something I know a lot about. As you may soon find out. But hey. I tried..._**

**_Do enjoy...the next chapter should be up soon. I still own nothing..._**

**MY DEMONS**

**Chapter Three – Blind Instinct**

_**These ultimate weapons are only children, and our guns and bombs are really limbs and hearts.**_

If it had been a movie, then loud music would have been playing, not quite drowning out our noises and emphasizing the _thud thud thud _of the helicopter blades in the air.

But it wasn't a movie – it was real life.

Erasers dropped out of the sky all around us, leering and snarling as they focused their demonic eyes on us. That familiar 'predator-prey' instinct alarm was booming like a klaxon in my head, warning me to get airborne. Rather than think, I just acted. I had done this before, all the training had been drummed into my brain. It was easy enough to remember the sparring that Max and I and the others had practised so many times, but fighting an enemy was nothing like that. They wanted to kill you. And, no matter what, you had to want to kill them too.

I was holding my own against the Eraser I had singled out, until another one came up behind me and slammed me to the ground. I remembered the hard way that you were never supposed to leave your back unprotected. I had forgotten all of this – how long had it been since any of us had practised these skills? While I struggled to get upright again, my brain was pumping out full-blown madness that I didn't wait to register.

Max and Iggy appeared to be the only ones actually upright, in fact. I had lost sight of Nudge and Gazzy, so I guessed that they had joined me on the floor. Man, was I taking a beating – Eraser claws backed with brute force definitely did a lot of damage. Max was pinned by two Erasers, and another appeared to be beating her to a bloody pulp. I growled menacingly – didn't they ever play fair?

Well, no. Duh.

Angel was screaming from what seemed like a million miles away. Nudge was crying. My brain felt fogged in, and I fought to stay conscious.

_Everyone _was screaming, now. Max, the Erasers, Nudge, Angel. Iggy was yelling at the top of his lungs. There was an Eraser laughing, a rough sound which I hated from the moment I heard it. My brain was screaming at me to get up, to keep fighting, but limbs didn't appear to be obeying. Somehow, unconsciously, I jerked upright and looked out over the scene of desolation. Angel was being stuffed into a sack by an Eraser, fighting and struggling and screaming as loudly as she possibly could. I made to get to my feet, to help her, but an Eraser boot knocked me back to the ground, and my vision disappeared totally. I used the last shreds of consciousness to listen hard.

Max was sobbing tearlessly, breathing ragged. The others of the flock except for Angel – who was still screaming like mad – were silent. That worried me more than anything.

"Get off me, you stupid, freaking-" Max snarled, and then her breath was knocked out of her once again with an _oof. _

"Max," that was an Eraser, the same one who had laughed before, "good to see you again. You look like crap. You always acted so much better than everyone else, so this cheers me up."

An _Eraser_ saying that Max looked like crap. Look who was talking! And, sure, Max was totally bossy, but thinking she was superior? I wondered who this person – mutant – was.

"Who are you?" Max gasped, her voice like ice.

"You don't recognize me? I guess I've grown up some," the Eraser chuckled once again. I wanted to wring his muscular, hairy, stinking neck.

"Ari," the last word was whispered, horror exploding in the short syllables. There was a dead silence that seemed to go on forever.

Ari – he was seven years old. He was Jeb's son.

In the last moments I remained conscious, my brain was running in slow-motion circles. I wasn't as horrified as I should have been – I couldn't quite seem to figure it out. Realization eluded me. There was a boot on my throat, pressing so it made it difficult to breathe. And then, with a suddenness that surprised me ever so briefly, I passed out.

**_AN: Hope you guys enjoyed that. Critique would be really good on the whole steet-fighting thing, and reviews in general are always much appreciated. I love people who review...seriously. I'm too tired (and lazy) to do individual replies to reviews right now, but next chapter I will get around to it, I promise. _**

**_Keep an eye out for the next chapter!_**

**_-Aden Ameryn_**


	4. Upside Down

**_Hey, guys. It's school holidays at the moment, so I've actually been getting some writing done. I found this chapter hanging around, and I don't know why I didn't upload it earlier. Mind you, I'm easily distracted, so it's not really that surprising that I forgot about it. At any rate, I hope you enjoy it..I mean, you've been waiting long enough for an update!_******

MY DEMONS

**Chapter Four – Upside Down**

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My world keeps flipping upside down, my head is whirling around and around – the ground is gone from under my feet.

* * *

I woke up as suddenly as I had passed out, going from darkness to fully functioning in a moment. My whole body was aching, as though I had been beaten. Which I had, of course. Nothing was broken as far as I could tell, but I moved carefully anyway. The Gasman was standing up a few metres away from me, in the battered and bruised strawberry patch. Little red fruits lay everywhere, mushy and bruised. Max was close to me, and apparently unconscious. Gazzy and I went to her first.

"Max?" Gazzy said softly, sounding young and afraid. Max moaned in reply – she looked as if she had been beaten with a wooden pole and then trampled into the dirt. Her eyes popped open – both of them quickly blackening – and she stared up at us in shock.

"I'm okay," she said, her voice a croak from crying out, her eyes wide as she pulled herself up and looked around, "where's Angel?"

"She's gone. They took her," even I couldn't quite disguise the fact that I was appalled. Angel was six years old – why would anyone in their right mind take away a little girl and torture her? But then I remembered that the white coats _weren't _in their right minds. Max looked as if she was about to panic, but that emotion turned quickly to blind rage.

She climbed to her feet, and I supported to, knowing at the same time that she hated her own weakness, especially when the girl who was practically her own child was in so much danger.

"We've got to get her," she said aloud, urgently. Iggy and Nudge were appearing now, having picked themselves up and dragged themselves over to us. "We've got to get her before they-"

She gulped, cutting off in mid-sentence. I wondered what she was imagining, but it was clear by the expression on her face. For a moment she looked lost, but then that strange look that she always gets when she's about to take over crossed her face and I knew we were fine.

"Check in, guys – are you up for a chase," she said, looking us over. All five of us looked as if we had been bashed up, which we had, and were probably in no condition to go chasing after the enemy again, but Max wasn't going to let a little thing like that get in the way of her saving Angel.

"Yes," Nudge said bravely, trying to stop the tears from flowing from her eyes. Her voice was choked.

"I'm up," Iggy spoke from the side, his voice thick thanks to his swelling lip.

Gazzy stood up slowly from where he was crouched next to Max, moving like a little old man. He nodded at Max, his large blue eyes seeming to say that he only wanted to find his sister. He was only eight, but he was just as strong as the rest of us.

Max looked for a moment like she was going to break down and cry, but she scrubbed her eyes briefly. Sure, she didn't cry much, but for some reason I had always been there when she had cried. And she cried more than me. Not that that was saying much. However, Max only wiped her eyes briefly and took her own weight off of me, supporting herself.

Iggy suddenly looked away, listening. Everyone else went silent, listening as well. A faint engine noise reached my ears. It only took Iggy, with his bat-like hearing, a moment to pinpoint the location of the noise.

_"There!" _his voice was loud after the brief silence, and we took off as if it was a gunshot. Max was in the front, rage giving her wings – wings on her feet, that is, seeing as she already _had _wings on her back. The others were stiff and sore, including me, not that I would ever admit it aloud. I forced my body into a smooth rhythm. A hundred yards bought us from the rough darkness of the bush onto a ledge overlooking an old logging trail. Maybe a little way ahead of us was the vehicle that we had heard – a dusty black Humvee bouncing swiftly over the rutted road. Max's face was strained, and the others were quivering.

"Let's get her!" Max's voice was a cry, edging on a shriek. She stepped back a little, and then ran to the edge, throwing herself into the air. With a snap she unfurled her wings and took off so swiftly her movements were a blur. I waited till last, letting the others back off and leap in an imitation of Max, each operating on a well of adrenaline. We pulled together into a formation, a flock of five. I snatched up a dead branch, feeling its pleasing weight in my hand. Putting on an extra burst of speed and dropping down, I smashed the branch into the glass of the windshield, making the vehicle swerve ungracefully. I surged back up into my place, avoiding a spray of bullets.

It smelt like hot metal in the air now, and little hornets buzzed around our heads. I ducked down once again, giving the windshield another whack. This time several other windows opened, and gun barrels popped out everywhere. I rolled away at the last moment, feeling like an agile fighter plane.

"Angel!" Max was screaming, screaming so loudly that Angel was sure to hear it even over the gunshots and inside the car, "we're here! We're coming for you!"

I caught sight of the helicopter as I avoided yet another bullet – a black and green dragonfly through the trees.

"Up ahead," I yelled out, my voice sounding strangely calm compared to the others. Max met my eyes as she flew swiftly, dodging and darting back and forth, and I nodded to her, knowing that we would only get one chance to get to her now.

The Humvee slewed awkwardly sideways, and the doors burst open suddenly, a lone Eraser dashing out. I dropped downward onto his head, but he had a knife, and I didn't. I only saw the flash at the last possible moment, twisting so that it got me in the arm rather than the chest. With a yell that I couldn't quite suppress, now feeling anger in my chest mingling with the sharp pain, I veered upwards. Blood was dripping from the wound, but I couldn't exactly do anything about it.

A second Eraser showed his ugly face, snarling and spitting as he tossed something green-black into the air. Nudge and Iggy pulled back fast, narrowly avoiding the hand grenade's explosion as it showered metal, flames and wood everywhere. The helicopter's rotor was spinning more quickly now, stirring the grass and the trees around us. The feeling was unpleasant, like a really strong wind. I saw Max darting out of cover and towards the chopper, just as Ari, with the sack that contained Angel slung over his shoulder. Her face had rage and fear all over it. Angel's sack was thrown roughly onto the ground, I saw with a thrill of anger, and Ari leapt in after her.

The chopper was taking off, and Max followed it up, hooking one arm over the landing skid. Her wings were being pulled at by the wind which was forcing me and the others towards the ground. There were Erasers laughing from the glass hatch as they closed it. Ari was leaning out, a rifle in hand. I felt my heart still, and I mentally begged for Max to let go _now. _Ari had been a little kid, but now he was an Eraser, and an Eraser wouldn't hesitate to kill her, or any of us.

"Let me tell you a secret, old pal, old chap," Ari roared over the sound of the rotors spinning, bitter rage in his voice mingling with a strange and haunting joy, "you've got it all wrong. _We're the good guys!_"

At the last moment – even from here, I could see Ari's claw twitching on the trigger – Max let go and fell towards the ground. For a long moment, I thought that she was going to hit the dirt, but she unfurled her wings at the last moment. I saw Angel's bright blonde hair for a flashing moment before Erasers whisked her away.

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**_Can't be bothered replying to reviews right now, but maybe next chapter..because I found another chapter as well! Oh, the excitement! _**

**_Please review! Just because I haven't updated for, like, a year doesn't mean you shouldn't read and review!_**

**_-Aden_**


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